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Show Page C2 Wct Itmcg-ttbgpgnbg- jBIue nt jkg httion Thursday, October 7, 2004, Utah nlanning to promote similar source Wyomings new day is reliable wind power by Dave Anderton Deseret Morning News November 7, 2003 EVANSTON, Wyo. to those operations. Ris- d ing from the sagebrush 15 miles northeast g border of the stands a forest of giant steel towers, waiting for a rendezvous with the wind. In two weeks, blades 15 g miles from the border and longer than airplane wings will generate snow-covere- Utah-Wyomin- Utah-Wyo-min- power for about 45,000 homes. Call it Wyomings new day. The $143 million wind park by Florida Power and Light Energy LLC covers a area. The land is leased from the state of Wyoming, Bureau of Land Management and private property owners. All of the uses are still able to be performed, whether it be grazpre-existi- ing, farming operations, Wind turbines in Oregon harvest the breezes said Don Miller, FPL Energy . . . Continued from page 1 electricity customer in Grand County to sign up for the program. Group members are making personal visits to business owners, neighbors and friends, and PacifiCorp, Utah Powers parent company, recently sent out a countywide mailing urging electricity customers to en- roll in the Blue Sky program, which allows PacifiCorp customers to pay a surcharge -currently about $1.95 per 100 kilowatt hour block- - to buy wind-generat- electricity ed for homes and businesses. As part of the Blue Sky Challenge, several area businesses and organizations including The Synergy Company, Moab Area Chamber of Commerce, Moab Folk Music Festival, KZMU Public Radio and the Moab Times-Inde-pende- have committed to purchasing wind power for 100 percent of their electricity needs. To earn EPA Green Power Community designa- about 3,000 tion, hours (3 million megawatt kilowatt hours) - of the 100,000 megawatt hours of electricity used annually in Grand County must be renewable energy. So far the promotional effort is paying off, Nettell says. Just yesterday I ran- domly asked three people who had received the mailing and they all said Tve sent mine in, Nettell said. Getting 100 percent reaction like that is wonderful. Utah Power does not make a profit from signing up customers for wind power, but the Scottish-owne- d company is committed to increasing the percentage of renewable energy in its mix of resources used to generate electricity. Currently, almost 52 percent of all electricity generated within the U.S. comes from coal. Only about 2 percent is created using renewable energy sources such as wind, low-impa- hydro-powe- ct r, geothermal energy sources, biomass, and biogas methane. But about 94 percent of Utahs electricity is . . coal-generate- d, according to the fed- eral Energy Information Administrations 2002 state electricity profile. The primary benefit of buying green power is environmental protection. For many organizations, the electricity they purchase is a significant source of air pollu- tion and greenhouse gas emissions. Voluntary green power consumers are making a real difference environmentally by supporting the development of new power plants that generate electricity with significantly less air pollution and no net increase in greenhouse gas emissions. said the EPAs Clouse. By choosing green power, the Moab community mem- bers can support the development of new, clean, renewable power plants. The U.S. EPA Green Power Partnership, using average avoided carbon emissions nationally, estimates that the target of 3 percent green power usage for the Moab Area Community is the equivalent of taking over 350 cars off the road or planting roughly 550 acres of trees. If the Moab Area Commumeets its target of 3 pernity cent green power usage, it will be responsible for avoiding over 4 million pounds of carbon dioxide, based on national average emissions, said Clouse. That effort will bring said Sara Wright, director of Utah Clean Energy, a group that promotes renewable energy. I have been extremely or The City of Moab was selected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy as a 2003 Green Power Leadership Award winner for its commitment to renewable energy. Moab renewable championed its participapower through tion in Utah Powers Blue Sky wind energy program. The City of Moab and other award winners were honored during the Third Annual Green Power Leadership Award ceremony in Chicago, Illinois. The City of Moab has demonstrated great leadership in its commitment to purchasing renewable energy, said Matt Clouse, pro- gram manager of the EPA Green Power Partnership. Moab prides itself on supporting a clean environment. In February 2002, its City Council elected to purchase 57 blocks (5,700 kilowatt-hour- s per month) of Utah Powers Blue Sky wind energy, which links 50 percent of the citys energy use to poll- wind energy. ution-free Moabs wind energy purchase offsets more than 68 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, which is equivalent to taking 12 average cars off the road for a year or planting 27 acres of trees. Introduced in 2000, Utah character and the integrity of this community that we have been so successful, he said. It does make a difference. Mayor Sakrison said being first in the nation to achieve the Green Power Community designation is a huge feather in Moabs cap. You can only be first once. No one can ever take that away from us. And no other community can ever stake that claim, he said. But in terms of the communitys commitment to renewable energy, the point is much simpler. Its the right thing to do, said Sakrison. Blue Sky program gives customers a way to grow the demand for wind energy by buying block increments for $1.95 each. With support from the Utah Wind Power Campaign and Utah Power, the Moab Blue Sky Community Challenge was created to sign up 5 percent of the areas residents and businesses by October 2003. Moabs Mayor, Dave Sakrison, began a personal campaign to convince area residents to join him in buying Blue Sky. He partici- pated in presentations at the Rotary Club, Chamber of Commerce, Grand County and Council meetings church. He used every opportunity to educate his community about the Blue Sky program and what renewable energy means to Moab and future generations. The citys goal was reached in little more than one month. This is an amazing community to me, Sakrison said. It just shows our environmental concern for our community. Now, were going to turn it up a notch and see where the limit is. If the Moab community can purchase 3 percent of its energy goal. Today, nearly 9 percent of Moabs electric customers are purchasing Blue Sky wind energy and nearly 2 percent of the communitys total energy usage now comes from renewable wind power. Wind power helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It produces no air pollutants, wastewater, smog or acid rain. More than 6,350 Utah customers are participating in the Blue Sky wind power program. KZROU e-m- ail k become the first Environmental Protection Agency Green Power Community in the nation, three percent of all electricity used in Grand County must come from renewable energy sources such as Utah Powers Blue Sky wind power program. To Total 1 00 kilowatt hour blocks that must come from wind power to meet the EPA three percent requirement are 3,063. Percentage of electricity now purchased by wind power is nt of the goal of 3 percent of total power consump- tion. Moab is getting close to its goal . Every block purchased helps! Arches Book Company and Back of Beyond support renewable wind power and invite you to join them. coCDivecc BANKBR1B Arches Realty supporting Blue Sky Wind Power c7 v iTTnrigrarngnnrTP Mayor Dave Sakrison invites all citizens and businesses to join the City of Moab in using and promoting wind power. Blue Sky! It's a part of Moab's heritage. It's a part of Moab's future! 106.1 FI Helping to keep Moab RADIOACTIVE! FM & on-sit- from renewable sources - the equivalent of 2,455 blocks of Blue Sky - it can obtain national recognition from the Environmental Protection Agency through its Green Power Partner Program. Currently, the community is about halfway to its W0Jo Wind Powered 89.7 blueskypacificorp.com t im- pressed with Moabs efforts. To have a small community reach this participation level is amazing. And the amount of volunteer hours that its taken to make this happen shows the commitment level of this community, she said. The big thing is it brings notoriety to the community. Youre protecting our blue skies and the natural beauty you have here. That really means something to the type of individuals who come here for outdoor recreation. Moabs mayor said he is proud of the work community members have done to promote renewable energy. And he urged everyone who can to sign up for PacifiCorps Blue Sky program. It says a lot about the To enroll in Blue Sky, call sig- nificant attention to Moab, Moabs Challenge reaps results and rewards Powers In less than four months, FPL Energy has erected 76 of the total 80 wind turbines, constructed 45 miles of new roads and completed 25 miles of trenching where 900,000 feet of underground cable has been laid to relay electricity e substation beto an fore it is picked up by the main power grid. PPM Energy, which is , owned by ScottishPower, will purchase the entire output of the generation, which will find its way to customers in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado. The Uinta County wind farm is Wyomings largest wind project and owes its existence to Wyoming legislation that went into effect this year that grants a sales tax exemption for renewable energy. Here, wind is in ample supply, averaging above 16 mph, according to Miller. Moab's current Blue Sky Statistics new wind turbines line the foothills in Northeastern Oregon, delivering enough power to serve about 1 2,000 households. The Eurus Combine Hills wind farm began operating in December 2003. PacifiCorp, operating locally as Utah Power, purchases the energy and played a key role in the projects development. Forty-on- e Moab looking to be first . project manager. There is virtually little or no impact EPA Green Power Community ' |